Sunday, July 18, 2010

Hi there everyone! I hope you've all had a great week! Before I get started I want to say thank you so much for taking the time to read (and comment on!) my posts. I love hearing from you all, and knowing I'm not posting for the crickets. You all are such an inspiration to my crafty endeavors, and I am honored that talented folks such as yourselves take the time to tell me how I'm doing. That sounds so sappy, I know, but it's true! So, thanks! :)Okay, the main event of this post will be the reveal of my "new" bedroom. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pics to show you. Basically, it was pretty boring. Builder almond walls, red patterned comforter and matching drapes (which my step-mom helped me make, so I felt a twinge of sadness pulling them down and sending them to Salvation Army), an elliptical machine, some of the hubby's weights, and other misc. "stuff" that somehow made its way into the room.Well, I cleared all that out, painted, and this is what we ended up with (looking in from the bedroom door):The bed, with this original oil on canvas artwork in a fab frame (it was a total steal at $35!! And, it doesn't look quite this small IRL...):"My" corner of the sitting area (the rug in this pic is where the whole "design" started - it was a major "score" at Home Goods, and after I had it I based all other purchases, and the wall color on that rug. Recognize the trunk? It used to reside in my craft room. The rest of the house was cannibalized freely for this redo - including the round table in between the chairs):Looking into the bedroom from the bathroom:And one last shot... just because I love the blue of the wall against the white drapery & chair, and the gold framed mirror:So, that's it! I really love the way it turned out. It is so calming and peaceful in there now... everything I always hoped our master bedroom would be. There is still more accessorizing to do, and I'd like to get more artwork on the walls, but I'm happy with it as is, so those other acquisitions will be moments of serendipity.What else have I been up to... Well, I did get a decent amount of stitching in this week, so here's where I am now:Next on the agenda for this piece will be the house - I did the tree first so I wouldn't have to count (and possibly have to frog) a lot of wide open space to start stitching the house. We'll see how far I progress in the evenings this week. Speaking of audiobooks (nice segue, right?) - I started listening to Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir yesterday while I was stitching. It is fantastic!! If you like historical fiction, you sould definitely read or listen to this book. Just wonderful! I have always liked this author's non-fiction histories, and her transition to fictionalizing the people and events she has researched so heavily is absolutely flawless. 5 stars all the way!That's about all I've got for this week... I get to go get my baby next weekend, and cannot wait to see her!! When we get home it'll be time to get her ready for kindergarten. Wow... time really flies, doesn't it? It literally seems like yesterday (or last week) that I was bringing her home from the hospital.Since I've already tortured you with a post and a half worth of pics, I figure what's a couple more?? I had my macro lens out today to play around, and here are a couple of the shots I caught:

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Thanks so much for your kind comments on my last post. I can't tell you how much I enjoy getting and reading each and every one of them! I've been pretty remiss in my blogging responsibilities the last few weeks (sorry!), but finally caught up on commenting this afternoon.

And, while I was catching up, I found two great giveaways - head over to Deb's (her name is the link) if you haven't already - she's a great lady with a great blog! And when you're done there, head over to Jan's wonderful blog (again, her name is the link) for a chance to win some more goodies!

I can't quite believe it's been a bit over a month since I last posted - it doesn't seem like it's possible that that much time has gone by, but it has. Nothing bad has been going on, just busy... two kinds of busy, in fact. The kind of busy where you go to bed at night thinking "wow, today was a really busy day, but honestly... I have no idea why or what I did!" and the kind of busy where you're getting lots done, and are wishing there were more hours in the day!

Not much time has been spent on stitching... okay, really, almost zero time. I don't think I've picked up my needle in about 3 weeks! Even when I have had the time, I have been completely unmotivated to even look at it.

So, instead of new progress and new projects, I'm going to show you what I got done while Leah was gone last time, and what was done shortly after she got back.

First up, my second completed Olde Worlde Santa ornament:

I did start a third, but decided no one really wants to see a small green blob of stitching... not a very interesting progress pic. I'm hoping to get all of this series stitched and finish finished by Christmas - that's a lofty goal for me!

Next up is the quilt top I was talking about finishing. It is complete! I finished it while Leah was with grandma last time. First pic is the only star that came out with the points even remotely correct:

And, here's the whole thing:

I love the colors, and the contrast. I wish there had been more red and blues and less browns in this layer cake, but overall, I'm really happy with it. Now I just need to get some backing fabric, baste it, and quilt it. I should be able to get that done some time this decade, don't you think? I'd better, b/c I'm itching to rip into some more of the jelly rolls and layer cakes I've got, and (esp. with the quilts), I'm a one project at a time kind of girl.

Next up is my progress (sadly, not much to show...) on The Blessing. Here's where I was last time I posted:

And here's where I am now:

Last week and weekend was one of those running around like a chicken with my head cut off kind of times. My mom (aided and abetted by Leah) conned talked me into letting Leah come back for a bit longer visit before the end of the summer, so the week prior to the 4th of July weekend was spent frantically getting her ready for a 3 week visit (3 weeks!! WTH was I thinking??). Saturday, I drove her to MI, Sunday I drove home (9 hours each way), and when I got home started the real "work" of my annual home decor project. I decided to redo our master bedroom, and so, everything had to be cleared out so I could get to the walls to paint them. Monday I painted, Tuesday I finished painting, and the rest of the evenings this week were spent recuperating from all the chaos. Friday night the DH & I put everything back in the room, and set up the new furniture, then yesterday we went out to get things to "complete" the room. And, now it's as complete as it's going to be. I'll save pics til my next post (next weekend, I swear!) because I'm just now pausing to catch my breath.

Anywho, now that my "while Leah is gone" projects are pretty much complete, I'm really really hoping to be able to get a severe case of stitch a$$ for the remaining evenings and weekend I'm without my baby - and when I say severe, I'm talking so severe it necessitates a visit from some hot helpful firefighters to get me unstuck from my chair.

Speaking of "hot" and "firefighters"... I don't know about the rest of you, but it has been seriously HOT in my neck of the woods (Mid Atlantic) lately. So hot, people's dead deck plants have spontaneously combusted. I'm sooo not kidding. Here's a link to an article about one such fire in my town. We actually tied a city in SoCal for the hottest city in the country one day last week. It was 106. Plus humidity (fortunately, not too high). Ugh! I don't really mind the heat usually, but good grief!! Even for me, that's a bit extreme!

Well, have a great week everyone! I'm going to sign off and see if I can get the DH to make me something alcoholic, yummy... and frozen.